Hoisting and conveying apparatus.



c. s. WILLIAMSON; HOISTING AND CONVEYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2. I 9I4.

Patented Nov. 23, 191.5.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

c. s, WILLIAMSON; MQISTING ANDlcoNvevma AeAnMus.'

APPLICATION FILED FEDA- 2. |914. l v I Patented Nov. 23, 1915.

. CHARLES s. WILLIAMSON, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

HOISTING- ANI!) CONVEYING APPARATUS,

i,ieiera.

l Specification of Letters Patent.

'Patented Nov. 23, 1915.

Application fried February'a, 1914. f serial. No'. erases.

conveying bulk material, such as coal or ore,-

or the like, from'place to place, for instance from a vessel to a car, or vice versa.

More specifically the .invention relates to a shield or protector, for use in connection with an apparatus for conveying bulk niaterial, designed to prevent injuryto workmen or obstruction of the traiiic by the spilll of the material being conveyed, during its vtravel to its point of deposit and the saving of the material so dropped.

` One of the general types of hoisting and conveying apparatus .with which my invention may be` used, comprises, generally stated, a long bridge or support mounted on standards or legs at a considerable distance above the ground in whichbridge or support runs'a trolley from which in turn is .I suspended a grab bucket of a well-known This bucket drops into lthe bulk material to be conveyed and picks up a load therefrom, runs back upon the bridge and drops its load, either upon a pile or onto ran apparatus for feeding the material into a box, car or the like. During the course of the travel of each bucket of material, there is inevitably a certain amount of leakage or spill from the grab bucket as it is being rapidly pulled through'the air. Inasmuch as `the travel of the grab bucket is usually over Aa space where workmen are engaged below, such as a boat or across railroad tracks, before lit reaches the proper discharge point, the dropping or spill from the grab bucket of large lumps of coal .or heavy lumps of iron, ore, or other material is extremely dangerous, not l.only because thle coal or other material may fall upon some workman below, but also because it obstructs trallc. This waste of the material dropping or spilling from the grab bucket is of course further objectionable in that it necessitates at intervals, a supplementary cleaning up process.

The object of my invention 1s to provide a simple and economical shield so con` strueted and arranged thatit prevents the dropping below of material from the grab bucket in any place except an intendedplace of deposit thereof.

' .Another object of invention is to provide a shield having thereon a compartment or pocket inwhich all coal or ore or material dropping or spilling fromthe grab bucket will be collected and from which it may be readily removed.l i Y Another object of my invention is to con- .struct and arrange. the shield and its supporting devices in such a fashion'tha't by a4 very Asimple operation, all the material which has been dropped upon the shield since the last time it was emptied can readily be eniptiedoif into a hopper or upon a pile, as the case may be.

Another object of my invention is 'to pro- Vide an automatic connection between the shieldl tilting devices and the apronlifting device whereby the shield is automatically cleaned of its droppings each time the apron is raised during the operation of the unloading machinery.

In the drawings, which show a device embodying one form of my invention, Figure 1 represents a partial view of unloading ma chinery atwork, showing my invention as applied thereupon. Fig. 2 is a specific 'modiication of certain hoisting machinery which may be used in connection with my invention. Fig. 3 is an. end .elevation of the bridge v and unloading machinery showing my invention in further detail. Fig. l is a perspective viewv of the shield` or protector..

In the drawings l designates a boat,2 a

' wharf, 3 represents in general the bridge of the unloading apparatus upon which travels the grab bucket 4 operating in a well-known fashion and controlled by well-V known machinery.

The bridge 3 is supported on legs 5 at a considerable height from the ground, so as to permit of the passage offboX-cars etc. thereunder. These legs 5 are provided at their lowerl ends withl suitable rollers or wheels designed to travel on a suitable track so that the bridge may be moved as a whole. Mounted at the lower end of each leg is a by means of which the bridge is movedalong the track. l .l ,l

In the forward legs 5 o'f the bridge ills, in this instance, provided a hopper` into which coal or ore, or other material may be discharged from the grab bucket 4 for suitable motor, (as, best shown `in Fig. 3)

subsequent deposit into boX cars 7 or gondola cars 8, as the case may be. At the forward end of the bridge 3 is an apron 9 which may be raised at will by the operator of the unloading machinery to allow the masts or other high parts of the vessel being unloaded to pass under. This apron is operated by cables 10 upon drums 11, Fig. 2.

So far, what-has been described is old and well-known in the art. I will now describe the application of the shield or protector forming the subject-matter of my invention. Pivotally mounted in the legs 5 immediately above the hopper 6, I provide a long shield 12 having sides 13, which 'sides increase in height at one end to form the large pocket 14, whose bottom is simply a continuation of the shield 12 and which has the capacity of one or more full grab bucket loads of material. The shield 12 is open at its forward end and is attached in the specific modification herein disclosed, to an angle iron 16 carrying sheaves 17 through which are threaded the cables'jlS, these cables passing over sheaves 19, 20 and 21. supported in the bridge structure and leading to drums 22 which will be hereinafter described.

To limit the downward movement of the free endof the shield 12, I provide a pair of cables 24, which cables are attached at one end by any suitable means to the support or bridge and at their opposite end to the bar 15 near the free end of said shield. The cables are of sufficient length to allow the said shields tonormally hang on an incline with the end provided with the pocket lowerrno-st so as to prevent the material from rolling out the opposite end which is open, until the lowermost end of said shield has beenvraised by the hoisting mechanism.

In Fig. 2 I have illustrated one form of hoisting machinery for manipulating the apron and raising the shield. The driving' device, motor, etc. used in revolving the drums shown in the figure are immaterial to the invention and will not be specifically described. Sufiice it to say that I provide the usual shaft 2G upon which are the drums 11 hereinbefore referred to, for raising the apron, with other drums 22 preferably one at either end for raising the shield 12. These drums carry the cables 18 hereinabove alluded to by which the shield may be raised. Thus whenever the apron is raised in the operation of the unloading machinery, one end of the shield 12 is automatically raised and the shield cleaned of the droppings or spillage from the grab bucket, without any attention whatever on the part of the op erator.

It is of course obviously possible and wit-hin the scope of my invention to provide Separate driving connections for the drums 22 whereby the matter of raising the shield is made independent of the raising of the apron. Inasmuch, however. in the normal operation ofan apparatus of this character the apron is frequently raised, I believe that to connect the shield and apron in the manner described. for operation, together. is preferable because it relieves the operator from the necessity of paying any attention at all to the shield.

It will of course be understood that the shield 12 and its hoisting` mechanism may be used in connection with a bridge or snpport, either with or without an apron. and in practice will be so used to a certain extent.

The operation is as follows: '.l`he grab bucket 4 dips into the vessel l and tra vols up over the tracks upon which are the cars T to deposit its load either in the hopper (5 or upon the pile S During this travel of thev grab bucket there are occasional droppings or spillage of the material handled. However, no such droppings or spillage can according to my invention occur, except: upon the shield, in the hopper, or upon the pilc. thus workmen below are protected from besing struck by falling coal, etc. and the tracks are not obstructed b v such material. As soon as sufficient material has accumulated in the bucket ll, the operator merely causes the drums 22 to be rotated, where upon the shield is tilted from its position as shown in full lines in Fig. 1 to its position shown in dotted lilies and all the coal or other material upon the shield slides upon this instance directly down into the hopper G whereupon the shield is lowered and the operation of the clam continues as before. I consider this automatic discharge of material accumulated upon the shield an important feature of my invention and broadly new.

l. In an apparatus of the class described. a frame having a support at one end thereof and an apron mounted thereon. a shield pivotally mounted in said support. mechanism for automatically raising said shield with said apron.

In an apparatus of the class described. a bridge. a grab bucket suspcndtwl therefrom and adapted to travel therl along. a shield located between the loading and delivery points of said bucket underlying a portion of the travel of the bucket and adapted to collect and retain spillage therefrom and means for indirectly dumping the accumulated spillage below said shield.

In an apparatus of the class described, a bridge. a grab bucket suspended there.- from and adapted to travel there along. an inclined shield umlerlying a portion of the travel of the bucket adapted to collect. and retain at its lower end spillage therefrom and means for dmnping the accumulated spillage from the normally higher end of said shield, to a point at one side of said 'a bridge,

shield, whereby the spillage is both collected and transferred Without danger of dropping upon railroad tracks or Workmen.

Al. In an apparatus of the class described,

and adapted to travel there along, an inclined shield underlying a portion of the travel of the bucket adapted to collectand retain spillage therefrom and means for dumping the accumulated spillage from the nor mally higher end of said shield into a hopper, from Where it may be discharged into a transporting receptacle below said. shield.

5. In an apparatus of the class described, a bridge, a conveyer adapted to travel there along, a support for one end of the bridge, a

a grab bucket suspended therefrom shield pivoted at one end in the support and underlying a portionfof the travel of said bucket and adapted to collectand retain the spillage therefrom, a hopper near the pivotal point of said shield, a pocket near the opposite end of said s'liield and means to tilt the shield for dumping the accumulated spillage into the hopper. .,f

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my nalneto this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLIES S. WILLIAMSON Witnesses: l,

C. C. BROOKS, ,f CHAs. A. OsoRN. 

